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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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The Social Security Administration (SSA) has said it has cut its backlog of disability claims by about 30 percent since June 2024.
The SSA said it has reduced the backlog of initial claims from 1.27 million to 830,000 over the past year and a half, the agency said in a statement to Newsweek on Tuesday. The reduction was first reported by The Washington Examiner.
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Why It Matters
The progress addresses a disability claims backlog that hit a record high in the summer of 2024, which reflects years of underfunding and understaffing, according to the Urban Institute.
The most recent Social Security and Medicare trustees report said Social Security’s trust funds will be unable to pay full benefits in less than a decade. The report said retirement benefit funds could be depleted by 2034, though disability funds will remain solvent through 2099.
Last year, the SSA laid off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of about 60,000, increasing the pressure on remaining workers to handle claims.
Delays in the SSA evaluating disability claims and determining benefits can have a significant impact on disabled Americans who need the payments.
What To Know
The SSA said it has processed 2.3 million claims in the 2025 fiscal year, a 10 percent increase from the prior year.
The agency said the average processing times for initial claims has fallen by nearly 45 days since January 2025. The average times at the hearing level has drooped to 265 days, which the agency said is the lowest level in the past 20 years.
The SSA said it streamlined its disability adjudication structure by bringing together “formerly siloed parts” of the agency under a single chief of disability adjudication who reports directly to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano.
This new structure “reduces layers of bureaucracy, moving leaders closer to front-line work with a continuous focus on improving the process and claimant experience at every level,” the agency said.
“Across the enterprise, the daily focus is on issuing high-quality, policy-compliant decisions in an efficient manner.”
The agency said it also converted medical files to searchable text on computers to make it easier to evaluate and adjudicate claims.
What People Are Saying
SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a statement provided to Newsweek: “For too long, Americans with disabilities have endured lengthy delays for a decision on the support they desperately need. Under President Trump’s leadership, Social Security is improving how we process disability claims, leveraging smarter technology, stronger federal-state partnerships, and a relentless focus on efficiency.
“Reducing disability inventory and backlogs and delivering timely decisions are key to transforming the agency into a model of excellence—a digital-first agency that operates at peak efficiency and provides best-in-class service to the millions of Americans who rely on SSA.”
What Happens Next
The SSA says it is undergoing a “digital-first transformation to increase accessibility, expand service, and improve the overall customer experience for the public.”
Earlier in February, the agency announced that more than 100 million Americans had created my Social Security accounts, giving them 24/7 access to the SSA’s tools and services.
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